The number of serious crimes in Daytona Beach was down 11.5 percent during the first six months of 2011 when compared with the same time period last year, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Crimes included in the report are murder, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny and motor vehicle theft. From January through June 2011, a total of 2,442 crimes were reported in Daytona Beach, compared with 2,760 from January through June 2010.

Benjamin football coach and athletic director Ron Ream will be inducted into the Florida Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Ream was one of six coaches voted in at the FACA's annual summer board of directors meeting in Daytona Beach last week. He will be inducted in a ceremony Jan. 10 in Daytona. To be eligible for the award, nominees must have a minimum of 20 years of service in coaching in Florida and participate in FACA. The other five inductees: Ricky Bell , Leon County Schools (Football/AD)

The number of same-sex partner households in Daytona Beach increased by 49 percent from 2000 to 2010, according to the Census Bureau. Of 27,314 households in Daytona Beach, the Census Bureau reported 240 were headed by same-sex partners in 2010. That's about 9 of every 1,000 households. Countywide, there were 1,597 same-sex partner households in Volusia County, out of 208,236 total households. The Census Bureau also reported that 7,214 households in Daytona Beach were headed by married couples, and 2107 were headed by unmarried opposite-sex couples.

Now that a brazen and prolific suspected armed robber linked to 14 crimes spanning from Margate to Daytona Beach is off the streets, investigators are hoping a one-man, retail-crime wave has been ebbed. Rainier Cox, a 30-year-old convicted felon, hit T.J. Maxx, Foot Locker, Advanced Auto Parts and other retail establishments during business hours, regardless of whether one or 10 customers were in stores, police said. He made off with $25,000 swiped from registers and sometimes safes, police said.

Babysitting probably isn't the best career track for Keyona Davis. Davis, a 23-year-old Daytona Beach woman, was arrested and accused of placing an 8-month-old boy in a stroller in the back of a pickup. She sat on the bed of the pickup next to the stroller while a man drove the truck, according to the Daytona Beach police, reports The Daytona Beach News-Journal. Get the DUHtails at The Daytona Beach News-Journal. More FloriDUH Categories: South Florida (492)

DAYTONA BEACH -- Derek Vinyard went 3 for 3 and starter Joel Nies scattered six hits over seven innings to lead the Fort Lauderdale Red Sox past the Daytona Beach Cubs 4-2 in a Florida State League game Sunday. Clearwater 4, West Palm Beach 2: The host Phillies had 12 hits to defeat the Expos.

WEST PALM BEACH -- Geff Davis singled in Mike Blowers from second base with two outs in the ninth inning to give the West Palm Beach Expos a 3-2 Florida State League victory over the Daytona Beach Admirals Monday night. Davis doubled in Pat Sipe in the second inning for the Expos` first run. In the sixth, Sipe hit a solo home run, his fifth to tie the game 2-2. Bob Devlin (2-0) faced one hitter. Daytona Beach starter Frank Potestio (3-7) got the complete-game loss. For the second straight night, Daytona Beach`s Graylin Engram hit a home run to lead off the game.

Daytona Beach swept a doubleheader from Fort Lauderdale Wednesday night. The Cubs won the first game 2-1 with the help of Pedro Valdez's eight home run. Vero Beach 2, West Palm Beach 1: The Dodgers defeated the host Expos.

Florida Bible Church in Miramar invites middle and high school students to the Daytona '97 summer youth camp July 21-25. The camp will be at the Holiday Inn Sunspree Resort in Daytona Beach. The cost is $200, including hotel, food and a $25 non-refundable registration fee. For information or to register, call Jeff and Donna McCann at 954-431-6776.

On Memorial Day 1967, Tom MacDougall was an Air Force fighter pilot who got shot down on his 300th mission in Vietnam. Robert Green was an orthopedic surgeon at an Ohio Air Force base, uprooted from his comfortable West Palm Beach practice when he got drafted at age 32. Their lives intersected the next day, when MacDougall and his shattered arm landed in Green's care. "They got him to Dayton in 24 hours," Green said. "That was impressive. " Said MacDougall: "I was lucky to be alive.

Please try to keep your sex drive in sex while driving a car. Officials said Asia Walker, 30, told the investigating trooper that her and the boyfriend were getting a little amorous at %:30 a.m. Fiday while she was driving and the trooper suspects that's probably why she lost control of the vehicle," according to the Florida Highway Patro, reports WESH NBC News-2 in Orlando. Walker lost control of the car and crashed into an unoccupied Daytona Beach home with such force the pressure blew a window in another part of the house out. The car reportedly went all the way -- through the house.

Gary Hill, 41, and his wife Paula, 39 suspected pillbillies from Maryville, Tennessee, had a financial plan to build their dream home. Although the couple had already reportedly pulled permits for the home's construction, they were reportedly still $4,000 short to begin construction. So they decided to drive to Daytona Beach -- with nearly $8,000 they had received from a settlement --and buy 800 morphine pills for $10 apiece and then sell them in Tennessee for $18 apiece, according to a news release from the Volusia County Sheriff's Office.

The Blackjack Invitational in Daytona Beach proved a winning hand for a group of Level 4 and 5 gymnasts from south Palm Beach County . Representing the Gym Like This! training center in West Palm Beach, the local athletes came away with solid performances. Level 4 gymnast Manci Pal, of Palm Beach Gardens, took first place in the all-around competition. She was also tops on the vault and the beam and finished second on the bars and in the floor exercise. The Level 4 Gym Like This!

It's funny what South Floridians will do for extra money, even five bucks. Thanks to a growing number of online opportunities, locals are finding interesting ways to cash in on their professional expertise, existing resources or creative entrepreneurial spirit. Check Craigslist on any given day and you'll find services offered by dreadlocks hairdresser from Fort Lauderdale or a blond female masseuse from Delray Beach . On AirBnB.com, you'll locate luxury homeowners near the beach offering an extra bedroom to tourists for $45 per night, or a spare room in an Orlando home near Disney World for up to $1,000 per month.

Jackie Robinson integrated major league baseball with the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947. A year earlier, he went to Sanford as a prospect with the Montreal Royals, Brooklyn's top minor league team. He made the Montreal roster and played that season with the team. Robinson was then promoted to the big leagues, where he made history 65 years ago. If Robinson had failed to make the Montreal team in 1946, it is unlikely he would have broken baseball's color line when he did. If Sanford had had things its way, this would've happened.

Hospital: Boca Raton Community Hospital Date of birth: May 3 Parents: Amy and Aldo Kosuch City of residence: Delray Beach Grandparents: Lynne and Roger Snowdon of North Palm Beach; and Gloria and Aldo Kosuch of Daytona Beach Sibling: Brother Collin, 4 Items of Interest: Carolyn is named after her great-aunt Carol Snowdon, her grandmother Lynne Snowdon and her aunt Linda Kosuch. Her middle name is a modern form of Elizabeth after her great-grandmother, Elizabeth Ryon.

How's this for some father-son bonding time? Robert W. Smith Jr., 37, and Robert W. Smith Sr., 72, apparently a pop and son pillbilly snowbird team, were spotted in a stolen car by a Daytona Beach cop, reports the Orlando Sentinel. Inside the car's trunk was a mobile meth lab, according to authorities. Both men listed permanent addresses in Kentucky and Holly Hill. They now have a new address with cozy quarters: Jail. Get the DUHtails at the Orlando Sentinel.

Miami Beach, Fort Lauderdale, and Key West are among the top beach destinations in the United States and in the world, according to TripAdvisor.com's 2012 annual Travelers' Choice Beach Destinations awards. Users of the travel review website selected 181 top beach locations in 21 regions including lists for Africa, Asia, Australia, Brazil, Caribbean, Central America, Europe, Middle East, Thailand and the United States. Here's the list of the top 10 U.S. beach destinations and top 10 world beach destinations from TripAdvisor's 2012 list.